Friday, December 27, 2013

Japanese Garden Festival

...is an annual fall event at Descanso Gardens in La Canada...I went to a beautiful kimono show put on by the Los Angeles Kimono Club, and learned a few things about kimono dressing. Sensei Fumi Akutagawa, a master of many traditional Japanese arts introduced the show by saying "kimono dressing is a learned art". I sketched some of her students of all ages...boys and girls, Japanese and non-Japanese as they paraded across an outdoor stage under the oak trees, wishing I could capture more of the detail!

I returned the next day to see the Kishin Daiko Japanese Drumming Group performing under the oaks...

I was really struck by the joyous expressions of the performers, especially Paige, the leader at left...

Kids were invited out of the audience to get a quick lesson in drumming...